


Planet of Love

by plastromeme



Category: Half-Life, Half-Life VR but the AI are Self Aware, Half-Life but the AI are Self Aware
Genre: Binary Talk, Coding and how to fuck it up, Eventual Romance, HLVR AI, HLVRAI, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel, fanart in work, kind of, no beta we dye like illiterates, realising you're in a game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24159067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plastromeme/pseuds/plastromeme
Summary: "Imagine this: you're going to die, in your best friend's arms, and you play along because it's funny, it's all you know." -Richard SikenGordon realizes they're all just characters in a game, and he isn't ready for the game to end just yet.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Dr. Coomer & Gordon Freeman
Comments: 8
Kudos: 79





	Planet of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for clicking on this story! If you see any spelling errors, please let me know!

In a world made of ones and zeros, who are you to go against a god?

Gordon isn’t stupid. Hell, he  ~~ is coded to have ~~ has a P.h.D. and he’s only twenty-seven. That has to count for something, right? He spent his youth with his nose in the books, staying up late to cram for finals, and making sure he gave everything he had to earn his P.h.D. Theoretical Physics or not, his P.h.D. is nothing to scoff at. 

So yes, he is not an idiot. With everything going on, he’s just a bit stressed. 

Every time he tried to sleep, his brain replayed the events of the day. He remembered impossible things, his  ~~ friends ~~ companions coming back to life, Doctor Coomer’s words about the nothingness that extended beyond the world. He’s had to watch them all die and come back as if nothing had happened in the first place. He’s had to deal with being shot, having his arm cut off, and experimental potions. 

On the last day he wakes up, he knows this will be the last time he exists. When he gets blasted into the past and destroys his passport, his vision floods with an endless stream of ones and zeros that never quite fade. ‘ _ Doctor Coomer _ ,’ he thinks as his  ~~ companion ~~ friend goes into the bathroom stall, ‘ _ I’m sorry _ .’ Afterall, the doctor had not known the extent of his existence. He hadn’t been forced to continue this trek of life doomed to end, for lack of a better thing to do. 

If you had asked Gordon if he believed in any god before the resonance cascade, he would have said maybe, but his son has taken up his time and he hadn’t been to church in a while. If you asked him now, as he stared at the impossibly tall form of his  ~~friend crush~~ enemy, he would say yes and tell you he planned on killing one. 

Gordon hesitates as his gun arm warms up, spinning endlessly, and realizes something that causes the ones and zeros to flair up more. ‘ _ When I kill Benrey _ ,’ and yes, it was when and not if, as they were past the time of conversation, ‘ _ the game will end _ .’ 

He looks at Doctor Coomer, knowing the old man is aware of their coding situation, and then towards his other friends. Bubby and Tommy, how well did they know that they were… that they… How much did they know?

‘ _ Benrey might not die _ ,’ he thinks as he takes aim. After all, in a world made of ones and zeros, who can stop you from manipulating them to your will?

As he thinks this, as he fires, he reaches towards a string of code that flows in and out of him, a fabric of his being. If Benrey could manipulate the code, why couldn’t he? He thumbs the edge of the code, and it vibrates violently before breaking. He watches as they slowly start to mend, and he decides he won’t let it happen. 

Doctor Coomer asks for his permission to use the SuperPlayer™ feature. Gordon vaguely says yes, the ominous voice comes back, but he can’t find it in himself to focus on anything but the coding. 

He reaches for it again, and it all but slips between his fingers, staining his hands and arms as they touch. The code wraps around him, reaching his head, and he realizes it has a  _ sound _ . A familiar sound, one he once dreaded and feared, then found comfort in, that now only fills him with reluctant determination. It… it’s  _ singing _ …

It’s also overpowering. It takes all of his strength not to sink to his knees, and all of his effort to not cry. It feels home in a way that he’s never felt before, and--and… it feels like him, for once in his life. He had started his adventure with emotions in a string of code, everything calculated and muted, if a bit bizarre. This, though… it feels like he can finally  _ feel _ . 

He reaches for more coding, watching as they shake themselves apart and land on his skin. If he’d felt this in the beginning, if he could actually  _ feel _ in the beginning, would things have been different? Would Benrey have gone rogue, would Gordon have even tried to push the science team through Black Mesa?

He knows the game is going to end, soon, but he wishes it wouldn’t. He wishes he could have felt like this in the beginning, even if the end would inevitably end up like this again. He wishes-- he  _ wishes _ \-- 

Gordon doesn’t see the world turn to white, doesn’t hear the shouts of his companions, and doesn’t realize he’s changed locations until he’s on the ground, head spinning from the influx of code. 

The feeling is gone, and he cries from the lack of it. His knees give out and he hits the ground hard, body jarring. It was gone--the coding on his arms, the feeling of home, the power at his fingertips. It was all… _ gone _ , and he doesn’t know what to do besides  _ cry _ from the pain of loss. It hurt worse than being shot, sliced,  _ losing a hand _ \--it hurt worse than anything he could imagine and he let out a howl of sorrow. 

Footsteps approach. “Huh, that’s new,” he hears 01100010 01100101 01101110 01110010 01100101 01111001 say before he’s being hauled to his feet. He’s dragged along for nearly ten minutes, the combination of tears and bright lights making it impossible to see where he’s being taken. 

He’s finally shoved back onto the ground, the light dim enough that he can make out the two of them being in a janitor’s closet. His eyes follow his captor’s body until he meets the bored eyes of a god. 

01100010 01100101 01101110 01110010 01100101 01111001 cocks an eyebrow, a smirk lighting up his face. “I take it you’ve finally bonded with the code,” he says as casually as one would discuss the weather. 

Gordon blinks once, then twice, and a third time for good measure. “ _ What? _ ” 

01100010 01100101 01101110 01110010 01100101 01111001 takes a seat on a barrel labelled bleach, his chin propped up on his hand. “Looks like we’ve got a lot to talk about.” 


End file.
